#4 Presbyterian Knocks Off #3 Gardner-Webb, Advances to Title Game
The Presbyterian College baseball team used a four-run seventh and three-run ninth to propel them to the Ingles Big South Championship defeating Gardner-Webb 9-6 on Friday afternoon at Segra Stadium. Zacchaeus Rasberry connected on his 10th home run of the season and drove in five runs for the Blue Hose.
NOTABLES
- Rasberry continued his torrid pace during the tournament on Friday with two hits including his 10th home run of the season and a career-high five runs driven in.
- He has also reached base safely in 21 consecutive contests.
- Rasberry is five-for-eight with two home runs and eight runs driven in during this tournament.
Toth totaled three hits, including a pair of doubles that gives him a team-high 12 doubles. He sits at .556 with five runs knocked in through PC’s two victories.
- Kyle Merkle and Kyle Decker each added a pair of hits in the win.
- Chris Veach earned his second win of the season in relief tossing 3.0 scoreless innings and recording three strikeouts.
- PC will play for its first conference championship since 2017 when the Blue Hose fell in the title game to Radford.
- The Blue Hose improved to 13-4 when outhitting opponents as PC totaled 14 hits on Friday afternoon.
- Presbyterian jumped to 15-6 in games scoring at least six runs this season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Rasberry continued his hot streak in the championship with a two-run single in the third to open the Blue Hose scoring and give PC the 2-0 lead.
- Gardner-Webb quickly answered with a pair of runs in the third to even the game at two.
- The Runnin’ Bulldogs gained the lead in the fourth with an RBI single to jump out in front by the score of 3-2.
- In the sixth, GWU scored a pair of runs to extend the lead to 5-2.
- PC responded in the seventh with four runs off of an RBI single from Toth before a three-run shot from Rasberry to give Presbyterian a 6-5 lead.
- The Runnin’ Bulldogs tied the game at six in the seventh on a fielder’s choice.
- Presbyterian tacked on three runs in the ninth courtesy of an RBI double from Toth before a two-run single from Merkle helped secure Presbyterian’s spot in Saturday’s final.
UP NEXT
- PC will await the winner of Gardner-Webb/Campbell in the Ingles Big South Championship on Saturday at noon on ESPNU.